Judge's MVP rings hollow

Hard to celebrate Aaron Judge winning his second MVP award after a hideous postseason that cost the Yankees championship No. 28

Aaron Judge won the AL MVP unanimously on Thursday.

Yet, his accomplishment was not widely publicized. The New York Post did not feature him on the front and back pages.

That’s how it goes when Judge’s horrible postseason overshadowed his great regular season. In the end, all people here remember was how awful he played when it mattered.

Judge finished the postseason with 49 at-bats and only nine hits. He slashed .184/.344/.450, hit just three home runs and struck out 20 times. He will also be remembered for his dropped fly ball in the fifth inning of the deciding Game 5 of the World Series helping open the door for the Dodgers to score five unearned runs that eventually had them clinching a World Series championship.

The Yankees star’s postseason performance is fair game. When a player plays for the Yankees, his postseason performance carries more weight than what he does in the regular season. The Yankees and their players are judged by how many championships they can accumulate.

The Bronx Bombers haven’t won a championship since 2009, and Judge hasn’t delivered for them in the years he played for them.

We can enjoy his gargantuan home runs every year in the spring and summer, but it means nothing if he can’t hit them in October.

We can appreciate the star value he brings in the regular season, but it means nothing if he can’t cash the check in the postseason.

We can appreciate the class and dignity he brings in representing Pride of the Pinstripes, but that and $2.95 gets him a Metro-North trip to Norwich at best.

Judge knew what he signed up for the minute he played for the Yankees. To his credit, he hasn’t shied away from it. He could have signed with the San Francisco Giants as a free agent, but he knew he owed it to the Yankees to stay and help them win championships.

This season was as good as it gets for Judge, and he failed miserably. Everyone kept waiting for him to elevate the Bronx Bombers against the Dodgers. It never did.

If Judge played like a difference-maker, maybe the Yankees actually beat the Dodgers.

Here’s what was alarming: He was a passenger rather than a driver against the Kansas City Royals and Cleveland Guardians, as in he was only in for the ride and nothing more.

The Yankees kept waiting for Judge to break out. They hoped the Dodgers would bring the best out of him.

Judge will get plenty more opportunities to be the guy in the postseason finally. He is only 32. The Yankees will always contend for championships. At some point, he has to come through sooner or later.

The Yankees star must get a championship to complement his decorated career. If not, he will just be a guy that will be remembered as a player who posted good numbers when it never really mattered. That would be the worst reputation a Yankee can have.

The pressure is not going to go away anytime soon for Judge. If anything, it will amplify until he steps up in the playoffs and leads the Yankees to a championship. His Yankee legacy is depending on it.

He can ask Henrik Lundqvist what it means to be a great player with no championship to show for it. It’s not a great feeling at all. Lundqvist did great things for the Rangers, and he was why the Rangers had long postseason runs, but in the end, it never mattered since he did not win the Stanley Cup. If anything, his feat gets overlooked here.

That’s the danger Judge is running into here if he doesn’t pick up the pace.

There’s no doubt he will be asked questions about his postseason when he reports to Tampa for spring training. How could it not be when his struggles became a talking point? He is going to be asked if he reflected on it and what he can do to be better.

It will be a storyline all of next season until he gets it done once and for all.

Judge wants to be a Yankee folklore the way Derek Jeter, Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris and Joe DiMaggio were. He can only do that by winning multiple championships.

Judge is likely a Hall of Famer. He will have a plaque at Monument Park. His number will be retired.

But he would trade all of that for championships. It’s why he plays baseball and why he plays for the Yankees.